Peep Show

Detroit Pistons:Ben Wallace says the NBA should have counted the stats instead of the votes when it came to the Defensive Player of the Year, which was give to Ron Artest. "They put on a nice campaign," said Wallace in the Detroit News. "I probably would have voted for him if it was about campaigning. If it's about the numbers, the numbers don't lie. They campaigned hard for him and I guess they got what they wanted. But I think everybody knows that ain't what it's about. It ain't about going out and campaigning, it's about going out and playing and letting the numbers speak for themselves." As for the Pistons, they think he should have won the award for the third straight year. "(Artest) was phenomenal. He had a great year," said coach Larry Brown. "I'm not going to say it's unfair. It don't think it takes away from Ben's contribution. The things we did as a team, Ben was directly responsible for."

Memphis Grizzlies: Even the owner was hiding his face after the Grizzlies first playoff game in franchise history. "I think the players and all of us were ashamed, because it was an embarrassing loss," Michael Heisley said in the Commercial Appeal. "Frankly, no question we were tight and we didn't adjust to the fact the game is officiated differently than the regular season. Considering how poorly we shot (34.8 percent from the field), it was a miracle that it stayed as close as it did for awhile. But we've got to put this game behind us. (Grizzlies general manager) Dick (Versace) talked to (former Pistons coach) Chuck Daly and he remembered when the Pistons lost by 25 to Boston in the first game, and came back and won a series." And the players have decided to show up for the second game, too. "We're pretty upbeat, still," Shane Battier said. "We're only down 0-1. What happened is the growing pain of a team that's never been to the playoffs. We saw the NBA champions play one of their best games, and we know we have to raise the level of our game to compete."

New York Knicks: Isiah Thomas has been here before and he wants his players to know he'll be here for them. "They beat the stuffing out of us," Thomas recalled in the New York Post about getting blown out in the playoffs as a player. "In my earlier playoffs days, we got our butts kicked until we learned later in the playoffs how you have to play and how you have to act." He knows how he reacted. Now he wants to see how they'll react. "It'll be interesting to see," he said. "This is our first time through together as a group and as a unit. For me as a president/GM, it is a good time to observe and see how we respond and what we do. Everyone wants to see a win. That would help. But it's a wait and see . . . I've been in a lot of blowouts where you walk into the other team's building and they beat you by 25 points. But then there's a Game 2 and then a Game 3 and a Game 4. I'm not going to overreact and I don't think our team is going to overreact."